Self-Assembly and Evolution of Homomeric Protein Complexes

Gabriel Villar, Alex W. Wilber, Alex J. Williamson, Parvinder Thiara, Jonathan P. K. Doye, Ard A. Louis, Mara N. Jochum, Anna C. F. Lewis, and Emmanuel D. Levy
Phys. Rev. Lett. 102, 118106 – Published 18 March 2009
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Abstract

We introduce a simple “patchy particle” model to study the thermodynamics and dynamics of self-assembly of homomeric protein complexes. Our calculations allow us to rationalize recent results for dihedral complexes. Namely, why evolution of such complexes naturally takes the system into a region of interaction space where (i) the evolutionarily newer interactions are weaker, (ii) subcomplexes involving the stronger interactions are observed to be thermodynamically stable on destabilization of the protein-protein interactions, and (iii) the self-assembly dynamics are hierarchical with these same subcomplexes acting as kinetic intermediates.

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  • Received 22 November 2008

DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.102.118106

Authors & Affiliations

Gabriel Villar1, Alex W. Wilber1, Alex J. Williamson1, Parvinder Thiara1, Jonathan P. K. Doye1,*, Ard A. Louis2, Mara N. Jochum1, Anna C. F. Lewis1, and Emmanuel D. Levy3

  • 1Physical and Theoretical Chemistry Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3QZ, United Kingdom
  • 2Rudolf Peierls Centre for Theoretical Physics, University of Oxford, 1 Keble Road, Oxford, OX1 3NP, United Kingdom
  • 3MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Hills Road, Cambridge CB2 0QH, United Kingdom

  • *Corresponding author.

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Issue

Vol. 102, Iss. 11 — 20 March 2009

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